Every purchase you make through these Amazon links supports DVD Verdict's reviewing efforts. Thank you!

All Rise...

Appellate Judge Tom Becker looks good in blue—it matches his skin.

The Charge

Would he ever really find her? Had she really ever existed?

The Case

A famous '60s werewolf meets a famous '70s model. Unrequited love ensues.

You know the famous Bernstein speech in Citizen Kane, when Everett Sloane
describes catching a fleeting glimpse of a beautiful girl on a ferry? Well,
The Girl in Blue takes the essence of that delicate monologue, bloats it
into a 99-minute feature, and beats you over the head with the irony and
cleverness of it all.

Egocentric dullard Scott (David Selby, Raise the Titanic) one day sees a
beautiful young woman in blue boarding a ferry. Years go by, but he cannot get
her out his mind. He becomes quietly obsessed, and at the risk of his
flesh-and-blood relationship with Bonnie (Gay Rowan, The Starlost), he
sets out to find her, hunting her down all through Montreal and some smaller,
picturesque Canadian villages. Along the way, he encounters colorful but kind
people who think nothing of inviting him into their homes and hearts, even
though for all they know, the guy could be a strangler.

Oh, if only Scott actually were a strangler. Not only would he silence some
of those kind but colorful folks, but it would give him something useful to do
instead of spending his days acting out a James Blunt song.

Of course, it would also help if Scott had any real personality to speak of,
but The Girl in Blue is one of those films that asks us to accept its
leading man simply because the guy is good looking and it's "his"
story. That's all good and well, but Scott is just not that interesting a
character, and it's more than a little tough to really care about his stalkery
predilections.

Actually, it's more than just not being interesting. He's obnoxious. He's
arrogant. He's arch. And his single-minded pursuit of the mysterious Girl in
Blue, which I'm guessing is supposed to be endearing, just comes off as creepy.
It doesn't help that "real" girlfriend Bonnie is an emotionally needy
whiner whose life dream is to get the smug and unreliable Scott to marry her.
Perhaps if there were more to the characters, this might have worked as a study
of missed opportunities and "what might have been," but as it is, it's
really pretty tedious.

The Girl in Blue does pick up some in its final third. At the risk of
spoiling this, let's just say we get a bittersweet final act that doesn't
exactly mitigate all that went before—or the obnoxious last shot—but
at least delivers something a little satisfying.

David Selby made a name for himself playing sexy and sensitive werewolf
Quentin in the '60s cult phenomenon Dark Shadows, making him sort of the
Jacob Black of his day. Like many TV actors, Selby had a less-than smooth
transition to feature films, making a few big-screen appearances before
returning to TV in the '80s in nighttime soaps like Flamingo Road and
Falcon Crest.

The titular girl is played by one-time supermodel and two-time Bond girl
Maud Adams. Though her screen time is relatively brief, she's actually the best
thing about this film, placidly beautiful and very natural. She almost makes
Scott's obsession believable—we are talking about Octopussy here—and
it's a shame that her actual role isn't bigger.

Scorpion has done a great job with this release. The picture is quite solid
with minimal damage and strong colors. Audio is solid. We get a nice slate of
extras, including a video introduction from Selby, who's pushing 70 and still
looks great; a commentary with Selby and director George Kaczender; a recent
interview with Gay Rowan; and the film's trailer, along with trailers for other
romance-themed Scorpion releases. It's really nice to see this level of care put
into a film that's, at best, niche fare.

The Verdict

A great package for a middling film, The Girl in Blue is worth
checking out if you're a fan of obscure movie romances or snarky-young-man '70s
films.